Florida and Puerto Rico Secondary Science Teachers’ Knowledge and Teaching of Climate Change Science

Misconceptions about climate change science are pervasive among the US public. This study investigated the possibility that these misconceptions may be reflective of science teachers’ knowledge and teaching of climate change science. Florida and Puerto Rico secondary science teachers who claim to teach extensively about climate change were surveyed in regard to their conceptions of climate change science and the climate change-related topics they teach. Results show that many teachers hold naïve views about climate change (e.g. that ozone layer depletion is a primary cause of climate change) and climate change science (e.g. that it must be based on controlled experiments for it to be valid). In addition, teachers in both groups neglect crucial topics such as how evidence for climate change is developed and the social, political, and economic dimensions of climate change. Our results suggest the need for teachers to understand how to teach climate change and the nature of climate change science using authentic contexts that promote effective socioscientific decision-making and climate change mitigation.     

Interference and auditory short-term memory in the bottlenosed dolphin

Interference in auditory short-term memory in the bottlenosed dolphin,Tursiops truncatus (Montagu), was studied using a delayed matching-to-sample task. At each trial, one of two sample sounds, chosen randomly, was projected underwater for 4 sec and then, after a variable delay interval, both sounds were presented. A response to the sound matching the initial sample was reinforced. Correct matching was significantly reduced following short intervals between trials in combination with long delays after the sample (proactive interference), or when a near continuous irrelevant sound was inserted into the delay interval (retroactive interference). There was rapid habituation to interference if the irrelevant sound was short in duration relative to the delay interval. For both proactive and retroactive interference, the errors were predominantly responses to the sample sound appropriate to the prior trial rather than to the current trial, indicating that memory for the relative recency of events (temporal memory) was degraded by interference. When interference was deleted or minimized, temporal memory remained nearly perfect over 30-sec delay intervals, the longest tested. The importance of distinguishing between temporal memory and nontemporal, or event, memory in different forms of the delayed matching task was emphasized.     

Developmental issues in cognitive mapping: the selection and utilization of environmental landmarks

2 studies were conducted to investigate developmental differences in the ability to select and use environmental landmarks for cognitively organizing distance information from a walk. In experiment 1, second-grade, fifth-grade, and college subjects viewed a simulated walk and selected scenes that were high in potential landmark value. In experiment 2, children from the same grade levels first viewed the walk and then ranked distances among either the test scenes most frequently selected by their peers or those selected most frequently by adults. Results indicated that (a) adults and children may not spontaneously select the same features as real-world landmarks; (b) children are less capable than adults in judging the value of potential landmarks as distance cues; and (c) the ability to use environmental landmarks as cues for distance information developmentally precedes the ability to assess this potential information value.     

Theorizing identity in transnational and diaspora cultures: A critical approach to acculturation

This paper examines the various ways in which the concept of “diaspora” has important implications for rethinking traditional notions of acculturation in Psychology. In this paper, we argue that the idea of a fixed, invariant, and apolitical notion of acculturation dominates much of Psychology, and as such it needs to be revised and reexamined in light of transnational migration and global movements. Drawing on our previous and current scholarship on acculturation and identity [Bhatia, S., & Ram, A. (2001). Rethinking “acculturation” in relation to diasporic cultures and postcolonial identities. Human Development, 44, 1–17; Bhatia, S., & Ram, A. (2004). Culture, hybridity and the dialogical self: Cases from the South-Asian diaspora. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 11(3), 224–241; Bhatia, S. (2007a). American Karma: Race, culture, and identity and the Indian diaspora. New York, NY: New York University Press; Bhatia, S. (2008). Rethinking culture and identity in psychology: Towards a transnational cultural psychology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 28, 301–322], we provide a counterargument to models of acculturation that claim that all immigrants undergo a universal psychological process of acculturation and adaptation. More specifically, we show how members from the Indian diaspora reexamined their acculturation status after the events of 9/11. We use interdisciplinary research to critically examine the role of race in the acculturation process. In addition, we provide a new analytical framework to understand the larger structural forces that shape the acculturation and assimilation process of transnational and diasporic migrants.